[1:18] Good morning, we have 9.30, and we will begin with an invocation, Ilan.

[1:25] Please join me.

[1:27] Heavenly Father, we begin our meeting again in prayer, and we do so, not out of obligation,

[1:34] but we do so because we recognize your sovereignty and what we do here. And we thank you that

[1:41] not only do we know that you are watching over us and guiding us, but that you have positioned

[1:47] Each of us here today, all of our board members, all of our staff, and those members of the audience.

[1:55] The service has a role to play and how we move forward in the management of our water resources for our area.

[2:02] The challenges are many, there's a lot of complications and it's going to require people working together.

[2:12] It's going to require us in sacrifice and it will require us to think beyond

[2:16] what we think is actually possible, but what we can achieve together. So we thank you, again,

[2:23] for your presence here at our meeting, and your guidance in your leadership, and your blessing

[2:28] on this agency for so many years. And we ask, as we continue to go through this pandemic,

[2:35] that you just give strength to those in the healthcare industry who are so tired,

[2:40] we ask that you just bless those families who are dealing with COVID issues right now,

[2:45] and those who have lost loved ones as a result of this.

[2:50] And we just ask for just a spirit of unity

[2:52] to fall over our nation as we grapple with so many issues.

[2:57] And we thank you, in Jesus' name.

[3:04] With that, I will open the meeting of January 27th

[3:08] for the Board of Directors.

[3:10] And I will call the meeting to order

[3:12] and begin with the Pledge of Allegiance.

[3:13] Please join me.

[3:14] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which

[3:21] it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

[3:28] Thank you.

[3:33] The trees, if you could roll call and announce who's on the line, please.

[3:38] Director Cox.

[3:41] Present.

[3:43] Director Page.

[3:46] Director.

[3:47] Director Raleigh.

[3:51] Director Ventura.

[3:55] Director Limbaugh and President Hayhurst here and you may notice that Director

[4:03] Anderson is not with us. He's meeting with the congressman today and so we're

[4:07] aware of that and we will continue with six of us. Okay and we also have an

[4:12] attendance with us. We have General Manager Alison Cebo, General Manager of Special

[4:16] Projects Kathy Cortner and Presenting Staff. We have Lynn Tamowitz, Adnan and

[4:21] and a taboo and Nick Snyder.

[4:23] Thank you, Latrice.

[4:26] With that, I will look to my board

[4:28] for an approval of the agenda, a motion, please.

[4:32] This is my page. I'll make a motion.

[4:36] I'll make the second.

[4:39] Thank you, Director's Page and Cox.

[4:41] Roll call, please.

[4:42] Director Limbaugh.

[4:46] Yes.

[4:47] Director Ventura.

[4:50] Yes.

[4:51] Director Raleigh.

[4:55] Director Page.

[4:57] Yes.

[4:58] Director Kranks.

[5:02] Aye. And, President Harris. Yes. Having unanimous approval of the agenda. Public participation, do we have any request to speak at this time? Latrice, do I need to read public participation? No, at this time, we do not have any request to speak. All right. This is Chuck Bell. Yes. This is Chuck Bell, can you hear me? Yes, sir. Let me go ahead and read the public participation.

[5:30] I assume you would like to speak at this time, Chuck?

[5:34] Either that or number five, whichever one you want.

[5:40] Let me...

[5:41] Okay, let me read the public participation at this point, Chuck.

[5:45] And then we'll have you speak on the item that you're interested in during the workshop.

[5:49] I think would be appropriate.

[5:51] The information will have been shared.

[5:53] So the public comment period is limited to five minutes per person and not more than 15 minutes in total.

[5:58] Anyone wishing to address any matter pertaining to agency business listed on the agenda or not may do so at this time.

[6:06] However, the Board of Directors may not take any actions on items that are not listed on the agenda.

[6:11] Please submit a speaker's card to the recording secretary prior to the start of the meeting.

[6:16] Again, Chuck, so we will put you in the queue for item number five on the workshop. Is that correct?

[6:24] Correct?

[6:25] Correct.

[6:26] Thank you.

[6:27] All right.

[6:29] With that, General Manager Febo, mid-year budget review introduction, please.

[6:40] That time of year where we're going to give an overview of where we are through the implementation

[6:45] of our activities this year and now we're doing compared to our budget forecast.

[6:52] I'll hand over to Lynn Chamowitz for CFO.

[6:55] So

[6:58] today, I will be giving the mid-year budget review.

[7:03] The agenda for today is to go over the background and context in which we develop the budget and why it matters and the accountability and transparency of it.

[7:13] Then I will provide an overall revenue performance review going to the expense performance review.

[7:19] And then I will do a detailed review of objectives in our strategic plan versus the budget

[7:25] over the capital budget and then discuss future steps in regards to the budgeting and financial planning process.

[7:36] This is all related to the strategic objective to responsibly do or the availability of financial resources required for MWA to fulfill its mission.

[7:45] We

[7:48] are here in the budget performance mode after just determining the strategic initiatives

[7:55] and developing the strategic plan. We identified what are the budget resources needed to

[8:02] accomplish that with regards to staff, operations, and maintenance and capital. And right now we're

[8:08] monitoring how we're doing for budget purposes and providing that additional layer of transparency

[8:16] to our stakeholders, board members, bond holders.

[8:20] And we'll use information to forecast into the future.

[8:24] Today has a number of projections and how it's changed.

[8:27] And then that will be integrated into our longer term financial model.

[8:32] And then the cycle will begin again.

[8:35] What we have here is the latest and preliminary projected chasers

[8:41] that we have for the agency.

[8:44] The orange line indicates the minimum targets reserve level for the agency, and then this

[8:52] green line represents where we are as far as cash availability for the entire agency.

[8:59] As you can see, we do still expect that our cash reserves will fall below the target, and

[9:06] the timing of that is around 2036.

[9:08] So,

[9:12] for revenue, this is our automated revenue for the year.

[9:17] So, as you can see, all of our different tax collections make up the vast majority

[9:23] of our revenue for the year.

[9:26] Our budgeted amount was 4,390,000.

[9:32] We've upped that projections a little bit based on what we know now.

[9:37] This lighter blue bar indicates what we've collected year-to-date as you may be aware that we

[9:44] collect our taxes in sort of two big chunks during the year, so we've received the first big

[9:50] chunks for the year and then we're anticipating for the rest to be received in the April May time

[9:56] frame.

[9:57] We also have another revenue

[10:00] We have a new stream that's very significant this year, which is our state water project transfers. We originally budgeted for the $8 million sort of average of what we expected. And so far, we're now projecting it to be around 23 million, which is a significant increase that we've projected for this year.

[10:30] doing the budgeting information so the projections have not changed for what we're expecting

[10:35] for water sales. Our interest projections have decreased slightly just because we know

[10:41] that the interest that we're earning on our investments are not as great and interest lows

[10:46] or interest rates are low.

[10:50] As far as grants, the majority of the projection changes have to do

[10:55] with timing. So we reduced our projections slightly and as you can see we've

[11:01] collected a little bit but a lot of our grants are reimbursement based so

[11:05] when they're spent we will bring in that revenue.

[11:09] This is just a tabular

[11:12] depiction of the same graphs that I was showing you before. As again we

[11:17] projected a slight increase in taxes, our water sales are projected to be on

[11:24] target at this point. We know that our water transfers are going to be higher than anticipated.

[11:33] Originally, our grants are going to be slightly lower, mainly due to timing, and also to point

[11:39] out that this sort of is the net zero for the organization. So as we bring in grants, we spend

[11:44] that money in the same time period, a little bit lower in interest.

[11:52] So with that, the real big story

[11:54] here is that the state water project transfers was originally depicted as a wild card and

[12:01] it still is. So this was our allocation and so we budgeted very moderately at the average

[12:10] point and then we're off the charts.

[12:16] Now moving on to our expenses. The bulk of our expenses

[12:23] is also comes into the RDWR infrastructure costs, the cost of our table A allocation.

[12:31] We're expecting a little bit of a bump from before because now we have more finalized

[12:37] numbers from the Department of Water Resources, not too significant jump in what we're projecting.

[12:46] Water import is sort of the same as water sales. We have no better information

[12:52] So we're keeping the projection as the same.

[12:55] We have not spent a significant amount because of the low allocation.

[13:00] For a departmental expenses, we're anticipating that that will be less than what we originally budgeted for.

[13:07] And in the subsequent presentation, I'll go over sort of what are those changes and why.

[13:14] The same with capital. A lot of capital expenditures have just been postponed due to timing, just due to the supply chain issues that are going on, and we're unable to make some of these purchases that are required just because they're not available.

[13:30] debt were right on with our projections there, and then grant and miscellaneous sort of

[13:37] the same situation as the revenue, so those should match out.

[13:44] Here we have the tabular depiction of it for those who like to see the numbers, the

[13:51] situation as the grants, slight increase in what we expect to pay to DWR for those fixed

[13:58] costs related to the infrastructure, water import, we expect to be the same, so that's

[14:03] the water that we're bringing into the region, the departmental expenses, capital expenses

[14:08] and grant expenses all are showing projected to be lower than what was budgeted and then debt

[14:15] will remain the same.

[14:19] So I'm going to go over in more detail the departmental expenses because

[14:24] That's really the area that we have the most control over.

[14:28] A lot of the decrease in projections has to do with just staffing level.

[14:34] A lot of our strategic plan and strategic initiatives do have to do with staff labor.

[14:40] So we are doing this sort of work class to get fully staffed.

[14:44] But right now from what we budgeted were about the four vacancies for the entire year.

[14:52] from what we originally budgeted for.

[14:56] So at this point, I'm going to go through briefly and hit

[15:00] Some of the highlights in regards to what we had planned in our strategic initiatives to accomplish

[15:06] this year, and some of the more significant financial impacts and how they've made changes

[15:12] or other things like that in our throughout the year, from what we know now.

[15:20] So our objective one for sustainable groundwater basins was to update the scope of work for

[15:27] Cal Rural, we did that at the end of last fiscal year.

[15:30] We have a budget for $100,000, and that is going

[15:35] to be what we are still expecting to spend

[15:37] and has been authorized.

[15:40] The next bullet and initiative is to understand the use

[15:45] of minimal producers and parties outside of operating outside

[15:50] of the judgment.

[15:52] So the board has authorized that additional engineering

[15:56] supporting support that we needed to really get us there and to get that

[16:00] comprehensive understanding. We originally budgeted $75,000, which was sort of

[16:06] a regular scope for the engineering support and that has been increased to

[16:11] $225,000. The second part is the Kister's database. So the Kister's database is a

[16:18] system that water resources uses to keep up on the science behind where our

[16:25] water levels are in the basin. That was for $50,000 to implement that system and really

[16:32] get it fully operational.

[16:37] I skipped over some of the more staff-intensive objectives

[16:41] and we're hopping right to objective 3, which was for reliable water supply and infrastructure.

[16:48] The Kennedy James project to evaluate the groundwater banking operations are addressed in

[16:57] different initiatives. And we have that $800,000 budget in the capital budget to sort of

[17:03] accomplish multiple objectives in our strategic plans. We're also moving forward very successfully

[17:11] with development of the asset management plan. We have the contract in place with

[17:17] analytics to do that phase one, establishing our levels of service along the board and stakeholder

[17:23] their input. And then we also have developing the OSA recharge facility that's in the capital

[17:31] budget and that's also moving along as planned.

[17:36] Group 5, for the effective organization

[17:40] and culture, we're sort of moving ahead of schedule. For that, we've identified that we need to

[17:47] conduct a comprehensive class and compensation study. We've developed and adopted the strategic

[17:55] staffing plans with that, you know, there's additional research session that makes it happen

[18:03] or how we have that structure going into the future. So that contract has been awarded,

[18:10] it was not budgeted for in this fiscal year, so that was something that was adopted by the board

[18:16] that was outside of the scope of the original budget.

[18:21] For robust technology, science, and data,

[18:25] We have begun the development of an information technology strategic plan, one of the high

[18:32] priority things that came out of that needs and gap assessment was that we needed information

[18:36] system manager to think comprehensively throughout the organization about what our needs are

[18:43] and what our risks are.

[18:44] With that, we've hired an information system manager, so Trevor is on board now and ready

[18:52] to take it a step further to finalize that strategic plan and then also another outcome

[18:59] from that initiative was the identification that we needed to do more work to modernize

[19:05] the network and the software and all that good stuff for our skate-up system so that's

[19:15] been identified and put into the capital plan going forward.

[19:19] Another initiative that's going to move forward is to develop the long-term weather monitoring

[19:26] station and key strategic locations that is going to be presented to the board and is

[19:32] on track for at least getting started in this fiscal year.

[19:39] So on to Objective 7, we're working on the financial strategic plan with the help of consultants

[19:47] from reptiles. They are currently revamping the model so we can get really good

[19:54] the scenario analysis of, you know, what is, um, for, um, some of the different

[20:00] Financial risks that we're facing, and some opportunities as well. And then another key is to bring in grant resources when it's aligned with our mission and available, so we've identified $80,000 to support that. So that is going along as planned.

[20:23] And our final objective in the strategic plan is to continue to strengthen and build

[20:30] collaborative relationships with everyone who's involved in the agency and the management of our water resources.

[20:38] Most things are going along as planned. We're sort of shifting things to virtual, we're necessary, but we're continuing to engage the community where we can.

[20:49] And then with water conservation and other public relations with other agencies that's also going along as planned as well.

[20:58] The one wrench in the situation has been that because of the census, we have the requirements

[21:08] and the opportunity to engage with the public regarding redistricting and having those public hearings,

[21:14] which we're not budgeted for, but we're using savings from other areas to fund that effort

[21:19] and to engage the public for those redistricting hearings.

[21:23] With

[21:27] that, we're going to move on to the capital budget.

[21:31] Some of the capital items, such as weather stations, have been discussed and that there's

[21:35] no plan there.

[21:38] Most of our capital budget items are moving forward.

[21:42] There might be slight timing issues, again associated with supply chain and other situations.

[21:49] But for the most part, our capital budget is moving along as planned for our data upgrade system.

[21:58] We've had some shifts in spending and additional spending that's required for the networking and server improvement.

[22:07] And then for our vehicles and equipment, which I apologize is a little cut off.

[22:12] We were intending to purchase a heavy duty service truck, but just due to the availability.

[22:18] we're unable to do that at this point.

[22:21] So overall, we're still intending to spend less than we originally budgeted for in our

[22:27] capital budget.

[22:31] So from here, this is sort of the timeline for the budget and for the financial plans.

[22:37] We're already starting to think about what are revenue requirements for next year.

[22:42] So, at the next TFST meeting, we'll have a revenue workshop, and we'll be going through the first draft of the financial model, and what is possible there, and how we're thinking about the strategic financial plan.

[23:01] From there, February will be focused on revenue, March, we're going to be moving on to expenses.

[23:09] And then the April May timeframe will be doing a detailed budget discussion and getting

[23:15] into the nitty gritty of the budget.

[23:19] And then from there, we're hoping to adopt it and then the budget will be effective July

[23:24] 1.

[23:25] And from there we'll also be continuing to working on that longer term financial strategic plan.

[23:35] So with that, I'm available for questions.

[23:40] Thank you, Lynn.

[23:41] I'm going to start with the public comments and then I'll move on to the board, Chuck Bell.

[23:45] You are up.

[23:49] Well, thank you, Madam President.

[23:52] We really do.

[23:54] Thank you.

[23:55] for the focus on ST regarding the minimal producers and those tough and outside the judgment.

[24:01] We've been talking about it for years and we really appreciate the focus on it and the budgeting for it.

[24:08] And number two, I think we assume that the Lucerne Valley Recharge Basin would be part of the effort, even though it's not specifically listed for the budget.

[24:19] Is that true?

[24:22] I don't know the answer to that.

[24:24] Kathy or Lynn?

[24:27] Yes, this is Kathy. So the phase one on the

[24:31] on the recharge base and there's complete and operational where we put some water in there.

[24:37] There are plans I think in next year's budget. It'll be done in house by staff. The

[24:43] bigger, more expensive one is not in the immediate future but it is something that is on a radar

[24:51] for at some point in the future.

[24:53] But for right now we do everything, creating and water going into the sky.

[24:59] So...

[25:00] Okay. Well, thank you very much. Appreciate it. That's it for that. Thank you, Chuck. Do I have any other public comments? Anyone online that would like to make a comment?

[25:14] All right. Seeing no blinking green lights, I will move on to the board. And I'll start with director Ventura. Any comments on the mid-year budget review?

[25:27] Another great presentation by 11 staff. It's amazing how they bring things together in such easy terms, understand. No, it's a great job.

[25:37] I think we're moving in the right direction.

[25:40] A few exceptions that we had as a budget that came up this past year,

[25:45] which we're addressing.

[25:46] Chuck asked the question that I was going to ask about it

[25:49] was about the CERN Valley Recharge Facility.

[25:53] We're in a test program, so I'm not mistaken.

[25:57] So in a long term, it was about a year away before we get into that.

[26:01] But anyway, a great presentation.

[26:03] When you do a great job, you just take the word down.

[26:06] I'm out every time.

[26:06] Thank you, Director Ventura, Director Cox.

[26:13] No questions, but I look forward to us beginning the budget process as we work through this as a committee and encourage all the other board members to come alongside us and listen to the discussions and engage with staff whenever you have questions as we begin this process.

[26:35] Thank you.

[26:35] Yes, and director Raleigh.

[26:41] Looks good so far.

[26:42] Looking forward to seeing it in the future.

[26:46] Thank you.

[26:47] Excellent director page.

[26:53] I can just tackle what everyone else has said.

[26:56] We do such a good job staffed as at the agency of getting this information to us in front.

[27:03] In front of us well in advance.

[27:06] of the budget time and just as I said I think Kimberly mentioned this is our

[27:10] opportunity to ask questions months in advance as things come up and just

[27:17] really appreciate all the hard work the staff goes into putting this together so

[27:22] that we have time to digest it. Thank you. Thank you Director Page Director Limbaugh.

[27:30] Yeah I don't really have any comments except on the expenditure and

[27:35] revenue graph I still don't envision that the assumptions made to draw that graph are what it's

[27:44] going to be like in five years. So I have a hard time showing that graph every time we'll be sure

[27:50] expenditures exceeding our revenues and keep in mind that this year we made the first major water sale

[27:57] outside of our area and that was well over $20 million. So I mean there's lots of opportunities.

[28:04] We still have so many questions on answer from the state with the Delta conveyance facility and whatnot.

[28:12] So when we see that graph, I caution other board members, don't be alarmed.

[28:19] We're not going to turn around and raise taxes in the next foreseeable future.

[28:23] And that graph needs some evaluation in the future, I think.

[28:29] so we can nail down as why is it crossing in 2036 and not 2038 and not 2040.

[28:37] So the sumptuous put into that graph still remain a mystery.

[28:42] So that's all.

[28:45] Thank you, Director Limbaugh.

[28:47] We look forward to the process.

[28:49] I have no additional comments.

[28:51] So with that, I will close the workshop on the budget review

[28:56] And I will move on to our second workshop of the morning, which is Item 6, Asset Management

[29:02] Level of Service.

[29:04] General Manager Febo?

[29:07] Yes, thank you.

[29:08] A brief introduction to this.

[29:09] We did initiate an Asset Management planning process where we are identifying our current

[29:17] assets, including infrastructure, and then planning for how do you responsibly maintain

[29:25] through this asset management planning program.

[29:28] This first workshop is looking at our current level of service.

[29:34] So this is really depending on what our current requirements and needs are

[29:39] and are basically establishing a baseline to start moving forward

[29:43] and planning based upon.

[29:46] So I will hand this over to Adnan and Atabi.

[29:53] Thank you and good morning.

[29:54] this is a presentation that Emmett gave in perio last week.

[30:00] And so, no new information, but it's an important step in the process, and so we're happy to walk through this again.

[30:10] So, first, I want to discuss, summarize the purpose of the Asset Management Program. We're undertaking at the agency all up with the specific tasks we are undergoing, which is the level of service, developing that master documents. I'll discuss next steps, and then open it up for discussion. This should be rather quick.

[30:34] So, the purpose of asset management really is about management of an asset, creation acquisition, maintenance, operation, rehab, and disposal of those assets, and all at the lowest cost possible, so it's an optimization problem to make sure we're getting the best value out of our assets.

[30:57] That's often time we focus a lot on the creation and acquisition, right, the CIP and building

[31:04] new things, but associated with those things is a lot of maintenance and operation and

[31:09] rehabilitation to ensure that they continue to function as intended.

[31:14] And they can represent a liability if not managed appropriately.

[31:18] So as a management, it's about managing it on the entire life cycle.

[31:25] And this wheel is really just to represent this is a cyclical process.

[31:30] As a management, it's about managing the life cycle of an asset.

[31:35] A lot of the decision decisions are driven by risk assessment and condition.

[31:44] Oftentimes, we've heard from the board that don't replace something if it's still working.

[31:49] And that's exactly true.

[31:50] So, don't replace based on the schedule, but it's still helpful to understand or project

[31:55] when we might expect something to need some work, so that we can project long-term financially.

[32:02] But this process is a regular occurrence, regularly assessing risk-and-condition is going

[32:08] to be an important part of the asset management program.

[32:12] Okay, so, moving on to level of service, first and foremost, the level of service is critical

[32:20] and supports the agency's mission, vision, and values.

[32:25] It's about aligning the organization at the strategic level

[32:31] to the booths in the ground day-to-day.

[32:34] We bring together all known information about our system

[32:38] and its needs in terms of how it needs the function

[32:41] and that's an important part.

[32:44] And those are fundamental inputs

[32:46] the criticali and risk assessment which make up a very important piece of the asset management program.

[32:54] Now, when I talk about mission vision and values, these are derived from the Hobby Water Agency Act

[33:00] as well as the Strategic Plan. The

[33:06] level of services is intended to support those and move it

[33:09] down through the organization to what we do in the field every day.

[33:16] So this is about organizational

[33:18] alignment. I had mentioned this. Again, how do we take a strategic vision? Our mission vision and

[33:23] values and run it down to how we manage our assets day to day.

[33:28] And so this part here is sort of the critical piece of the puzzle

[33:33] in terms of how you relate to.

[33:40] Level of service itself is basically

[33:42] a documentation of all of our minimum requirements

[33:45] at the very least, contractually regulatory speaking,

[33:49] what must we be doing?

[33:51] So this is with respect to both our raw water system

[33:54] or state water project system,

[33:56] Or, you know, morongo-based pipeline and lobby-river pipeline and, uh, organ wash pipeline and then also what we're doing on our cube and our portable system.

[34:06] Um, regulatory, the regulatory requirements to putting water quality, uh, issues and obligations of the judgment all fall under that category.

[34:17] So, gathering all that information, bring it all together into one authoritative document

[34:21] in the focus of this current task.

[34:24] As obligations change in the future, that document can continue to be updated and brought

[34:31] up to speed so that it would then feed a criticality and risk assessment to essentially go through

[34:37] that cyclical process.

[34:41] 4 elements that make up, you know, port ordered obligations to the judgment, ordinance 9, connection agreements, various permits that we have to operate under, of course, public safety, and those are all the elements that make up the level of service.

[35:02] Parameters include real engineering type of parameters, pressure, disinfection requirements, fire flow requirements, certifications, permits. And so all of those, all of those things that together are what we derived from all those requirements. So here on the right is a snippet of the document. The document is quite large. But as an example, it's about taking those requirements and

[35:31] and translate them into set points and parameters

[35:35] that we can actually review and check and test again

[35:40] so we can continue to monitor how we are performing.

[35:47] So next step,

[35:50] we're trying to identify

[35:51] the baseline level of service,

[35:53] essentially where we must be performing at

[35:57] in order to meet our obligations

[35:58] under permit requirements and agreements.

[36:02] But following the criticality and risk assessment

[36:05] and then later on in the process where we start to throw assumptions that or I get an understanding of the cost associated with the program.

[36:14] We'll understand and be able to present the alternatives to the board for discussion and direction ultimately to staff as to where to land on level of service.

[36:24] So understanding baseline level of service, but a later discussion later on in the year, we'll expect to bring this back with better information about costs so that the work can choose to adjust the level of service from the baseline.

[36:39] current

[36:43] roadmap. We are in undertaking tasks one and two. Those are really about data gathering,

[36:50] collection, coalescing of information, and putting together our institutional knowledge on our

[36:57] assets and how they, and their intended function and how they're intended to function. The next steps

[37:04] are really the core of the analysis, which are the criticality and risk assessment, the condition

[37:11] assessment which is essentially a report card on our current assets and how they're performing against that.

[37:17] Then tasks 5 and 6 will look at asset management strategies and financial forecasting.

[37:23] At this point, we'll have the information required that we would like to provide the board with the discussion of level of service and potential alternative.

[37:33] And then finally, we wrap up with task 7, which is the annual asset management plan.

[37:37] This will be the first. The timing is set to be at the end of this year and the plan is going forward that we will continue to develop an annual as a mentor plan.

[37:50] By the end of the calendar year, which will feed in naturally to the budgeting process so that we have a better understanding of the maintenance rehab replacement.

[37:58] and capital expenditures will be taken on going forward.

[38:08] And that ends the presentation.

[38:12] So I'm happy to take any questions the Board may have this time.

[38:15] Thank you, Adnan.

[38:18] I would like to open it up to the public.

[38:20] Do I have any public that would like to comment on this item

[38:24] and then I'll move on to the board.

[38:33] This is an ongoing process.

[38:35] So we'll look forward to continued input.

[38:38] I'll open with Director Raleigh. Any comments or questions?

[38:46] No questions other than looks good.

[38:49] Thanks for your due diligence on this and look forward like President Hayher said moving it forward.

[38:58] Thank you.

[38:58] And director page.

[39:06] Yes. Thank you. This came before the committee that I chair.

[39:11] And one of the things that came up is that we really did want to hear.

[39:15] We obviously forwarded this onto the board, but we wanted to hear discussion and comments

[39:20] from the rest of the board members regarding this.

[39:24] So when it comes time, I'll make the motion if that's what the board would like.

[39:30] But it came before the committee had great discussion, but we do want to hear what the other board members think.

[39:37] Thank you.

[39:37] This is just a workshop director page, so we'll just be opening up for comments, so no

[39:43] motion at this time.

[39:45] Thank you for reminding me of that, I forget, but we did want to just hear more from the

[39:53] board members.

[39:54] All right.

[39:55] Director Limbaugh, you're good for a comment.

[39:57] that we know that.

[40:01] Not this time, though.

[40:04] Let's keep, let's keep, manage our assets and trying to figure out which ones we need to improve and which ones we need to continue. So I think per review is always a good thing. It might even give us some new ideas and how to proceed and prevent that curve from crossing on the expenditures and rev. Thank you, Director Limbaugh. Director Cox.

[40:30] Thank you, Madam President.

[40:31] And then it is critically important for us to manage our assets.

[40:40] I would like to see and cultured in this process and in the presentations, the mantra

[40:47] that if it's not broken, we're not going to replace it just because a date on the calendar

[40:53] says, oh, it's reached up to lessons.

[40:56] We know in our environment we get many, many years more of life of certain

[41:02] occurrences. So please have that incorporated in this because this is a document in

[41:09] a process that will be used by the agency for many, many years to come and we

[41:16] certainly want those that come after us to realize that a date doesn't

[41:22] generate the immediate action to change a piece of a pertinent. So, I would just appreciate

[41:30] that thought being incorporated. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for that. I think staff and

[41:36] your fellow board members are hearing you loud and clear and we will move on to Director Ventura.

[41:42] A

[41:45] good presentation. I look at this and I need to mimic what Director Cox said. It's not

[41:53] broke. Don't fix it. Somewhat was driven by technology in some areas. Changes take place

[42:00] where you need to do the fix things or change things out that you really could probably use

[42:05] a lot longer, but you just can't wait because the system doesn't allow for information purposes.

[42:10] So I think it's great that we're going to go hand on our assets and I get well needed and I certainly appreciate the purchase being taken.

[42:19] Thank you.

[42:20] Thank you, Director Ventura.

[42:23] I'll go to staff any closing comments and we'll move to close the workshop if there are none, but staff any comments?

[42:29] An

[42:32] additional comment?

[42:34] Excellent.

[42:35] All right, so thank you for those two workshops, very informative, great to keep the board,

[42:42] the public everyone informed, and we'll move on to the consent calendar, which is adopt

[42:48] board actions from regular meeting, dated January 13, 2022, approve category B payments,

[42:55] consider adoption of resolution 1112-22, authorizing remote teleconference meetings pursuant

[43:03] to AB 361. I will look for a motion from a board member.

[43:13] Box second.

[43:15] I have a first and a second. Roll call please.

[43:17] Director Page.

[43:20] Yes.

[43:21] Director Raleigh.

[43:23] Aye.

[43:24] Director Ventura.

[43:28] Director Limbaugh.

[43:30] Yes.

[43:31] Director Cox.

[43:34] Aye.

[43:35] President Hayhurst.

[43:36] Yes.

[43:39] Passes unanimously.

[43:39] We'll move on to item number 10, consider the evaporative cooler study presented by the

[43:46] Mojave Resource Conservation District.

[43:49] And this was heard in committee, and I know we were looking forward to the full board's

[43:54] comments.

[43:55] You know, so we deal so often in big numbers and big concepts.

[44:00] And as desert dwellers, we understand evaporative coolers.

[44:04] And so this is very real to us.

[44:06] I look forward to this conversation.

[44:08] and General Manager Febo,

[44:10] I'll let you open this for us.

[44:13] Yeah, so like you were saying,

[44:15] we work pretty proactively with the state

[44:18] to develop water use and conservation targets and measures

[44:23] and one area that has been lacking

[44:26] is consideration of water use by evaporative coolers.

[44:30] So we've endeavored on this study

[44:33] or being with Tony Walters

[44:35] to estimate the fact that that predicts cooler water use.

[44:39] And I'll hand it over to Nick Schneider to introduce.

[44:44] Thank you, gentlemen.

[44:45] Revevo.

[44:46] Yes.

[44:48] Board and President of the board.

[44:49] We thank you for allowing us to present this.

[44:53] This is a long time coming.

[44:55] We've been working on this study for about 18 months now.

[44:58] And this is kind of.

[45:00] There's a combination of the water use that we're seeing from these evaporative coolers. The reason in the need for this study is basically when the state decided to come up with a new water budget for water conservation purposes, these evaporative coolers really didn't have a place. There's an indoor water use, there's an outdoor water use, but these are kind of a tweeter water use. So we're trying to come up with a way to include them in that water budget.

[45:29] if we're trying to come up with a way to allow them

[45:31] to be included as they variance.

[45:34] So without further ado, I'm gonna turn it over to Tony

[45:36] so he can go over some of the study that he did.

[45:38] And I hope

[45:41] he...

[45:42] Okay, thank you, Nick.

[45:43] Can everybody hear me, okay?

[45:45] Yes.

[45:47] Okay, thank you.

[45:48] So I just wanna take a second

[45:50] and just thank a couple of people

[45:52] that helped get this study going.

[45:54] Definitely Nick Schneider was very pivotal

[45:57] in making the connections that we needed

[45:59] with other water agencies. Joshua Basin water, Kathleen Raddish and Mark Bann. At the Latter,

[46:09] part of the study, without them we wouldn't have been able to get the meters we needed to complete

[46:13] the study. So I want to say a big thank you to them and also my technician, Luis Cortez,

[46:19] that was my right hand because we were split between feeling and Joshua Basin. So we had a lot of

[46:25] traveling to do and so we're running around a lot but we got her done so thank

[46:30] you. Go ahead Nick next slide.

[46:39] You know the purpose of the study was we wanted

[46:42] to quantify the consumption of use of that evaporative core. You know there's

[46:46] some different numbers out there but we need to know what's going on in our area.

[46:51] So we wanted to try to determine the daily average use and what we did is we

[46:57] averaged all those evaporative coolers across the different areas to get a

[47:01] number. And it's important, because as we know, many households rely upon these evaporative

[47:07] coolers as our primary source of cooling in the summer. We always read about, you know,

[47:13] folks getting exhaustion in the summer, and especially the elderly, medically fragile,

[47:20] and lower socioeconomic, that's our only way to cool off in the summertime. So it was really

[47:27] important that we try to get some kind of number together. Go ahead Nick.

[47:34] With the help of Joshua

[47:36] Basin water we rounded up 31 participants to partake in the study. Some people are like you could

[47:44] only get 31. Yes it took a lot of work to get just 31 people on board. There was just a lot of

[47:53] you know red tape and different things and we had to assure people that you know no we're not

[47:59] going to tell on you how much water you use. We're just trying to get this number to benefit you

[48:03] in the long run. So the participants we got were from Apple Valley Joshua Tree,

[48:09] a certain valley in feeling. The evaporative cooler and raw inspected to make sure that they're in

[48:14] good working order and they're not leaking. We use the eye pearl. It's a magnetor to actually read

[48:23] the water coming into the evaporative cooler.

[48:27] We reduced it down to a quarter inch from three quarters of an inch.

[48:32] The mechanical meters we found out could not read the lower flows that were needed to collect the data.

[48:38] But the mag meters were so we went with the eye probes.

[48:42] Next slide.

[48:46] So the meters were installed and we took readings at the beginning,

[48:50] at the install and when we removed the meters,

[48:54] The participants were instructed to monitor and report if there's any leaks and not to remove the meters.

[49:02] We did have to disqualify. I believe four participants because they took the meters off or they moved and didn't tell us.

[49:11] And people moved in or we had dandelism on a couple of the meters also.

[49:15] So I think we had a total of 27 at the end, but we did have to go out and fix some leaks, and that was all noted.

[49:26] Participants also reported the days the coolers were not in use.

[49:30] So if they took the vacation, we had a fire season where there's a lot of smoke.

[49:35] So from folks have the evaporative coolers off for over a week.

[49:38] So we didn't note that when we did the calculations.

[49:41] Next slide.

[49:44] So, here's the nitty-gritty that everyone kind of wants, right?

[49:48] This is the data that we accumulated.

[49:51] Overall, we got a daily average of 52 gallons per day.

[49:57] Now, we know those of us that have ev-

[50:10] We did figure out just me being a nerd and one of my friends being a nerd that we were taking some hourly readings and some daily readings. And we found something interesting that when the temperature out here got above about 98 degrees into the high level.

[50:30] That we were going from an average use of around 75 to 80 gallons per day up to over 90. So there's a lot of factors that play into this and you know, there's a lot of variables.

[50:44] But we do what we could do with the time we had and the well, we had to work with as far as equipment and we came up with that 52 gallons per day.

[50:56] Next slide, Nick.

[51:00] So, as I said, the data shows 52 gallons a day.

[51:04] And if you looked at it, there are some large differences.

[51:07] And I wanted to pick on two customers.

[51:10] Customers are eight and nine from Joshua Tree.

[51:13] I'm picking on them because they are exactly identical.

[51:18] They are in an apartment complex, exact same script footage,

[51:22] exact same colors.

[51:23] The only difference is customer eight is a retired couple and customer nine is a person that works during the day.

[51:35] So they're not home during the hottest part of the day.

[51:38] And so it's interesting to point out that, you know, the folks that need it the most do use more water.

[51:45] And a lot of it boils down to how the person operates that cooler and we know that in some

[51:52] of these areas you have to run that cooler pretty much all day to cool the place down.

[52:00] And so, you know, one had 77 gallons, the other one had 43 and it just goes down to how that

[52:06] customer uses that cooler.

[52:09] Go ahead, next slide, Nick.

[52:10] So,

[52:13] you know, the data shows there's many variables, right, further research could be done to eliminate some of those variables, but what we had to work with and, you know, the time frame, we came up with our 52 gallon per day.

[52:28] You know, we could refine the studies down, tracking both the electrical and water use.

[52:33] I started doing that on my own expense and the numbers are kind of interesting, but, you know, the day it gives us a snapshot of our evaporative pool reuse in this area, and that's what we need.

[52:50] So I know it was quick. I know you guys are busy. Please, if you have any questions, I'm here. Let me know.

[52:57] So Nick, I have a lot of information too, so please just ask away.

[53:03] And thank you for the opportunity to do this.

[53:05] We appreciate it.

[53:07] Thank you President Hayer.

[53:08] It's just before we turn it back over to the board.

[53:11] I would like to add one thing.

[53:13] One of the important pieces to note from this.

[53:16] And yes, it was a smaller study.

[53:19] What we're trying to do is verify a number that was put out by the state of California.

[53:24] you know, that was done in electrical studies. So they did an analytical study and their

[53:30] number came back with not a not

[53:34] pursue further. So our feeling is this 52 gallons per day will

[53:39] be something that the state can use to reassess and reevaluate though the other analytical

[53:45] studies that they did. So the state looked at the same Joshua Basin water company and determined

[53:54] and that there wasn't enough, a lot of water use

[53:56] from these evaporative coolers.

[53:58] And thanks to Tony and thanks to the RCD,

[54:00] we now know that that's not the truth

[54:03] and that's not the case.

[54:04] And we have a number of gallons of water

[54:06] that are not being accounted for.

[54:08] And so that's something that we want to know for the board.

[54:10] And once this is accepted,

[54:12] we will be sending this to UC Davis as well as DWR

[54:16] for their inclusion into this variant study.

[54:21] Thank you, Nick.

[54:23] And thank you, Tony.

[54:23] Please stay with us.

[54:24] both of you as I'm sure you will. I'm going to open it up for any comments from the public,

[54:29] and then I will move on to board dialogue.

[54:35] Madam Chair, this is Chuck Bell again. Yes, Chuck,

[54:38] please proceed. Okay, this is me as a resource conservation district. Tony and Nick did an excellent

[54:45] job on this. And if MWA needs any help in trying to convince our local legislators to convince

[54:55] to state how important this is in terms of future allocations.

[55:00] We have lists of people. We have contacts with water districts and others that may be able to chime in both with Smitty and Senator Grove and whoever else might be involved. So, if you need some help on that, please let us know. And that's it. And again, Tony and Nick, a good job on it. And thank you on behalf of the RCD. Thank you, Chess. Appreciate your comments. This item was heard. I believe my page.

[55:29] this is your committee. So I'll open with you and this will take a motion to approve the study,

[55:37] but I will open with your comments, Director Page.

[55:42] Yes, it's come before the committee. We just

[55:44] really appreciated all the hard work and all the volunteers that help with this program. I think

[55:51] it's all been said why that is so important to this area. A couple of us on the committee, if not all

[55:58] of us have the evaporated poolers. It's very interesting to us. It's an important issue

[56:04] up here. And when it's time, I'll make the emotion to accept this study. Thank you.

[56:12] Thank you, Director Page Director Ventura.

[56:18] Thank you. I have a couple of questions. On the on the coolers that you had the study,

[56:23] did the folks have thermostatic control of those or religious on and all switches?

[56:29] Most did not. They just ran them. A few people did. And there wasn't that large of a difference

[56:36] between the ones that did and the ones that didn't. Clearly because, as you know, if you have

[56:43] an evaporative cooler, if you want the house to be cool at three o'clock or two o'clock in the afternoon,

[56:49] you have to crank it on early in the morning and get the whole whole house screwed down. That's how

[56:54] most people run them. And especially in like Joshua Tree area as you know it's still you know by

[57:02] 9 a.m. it you know it's 90 degrees or more even here sometimes. So there wasn't that big of a

[57:08] difference and there's only like four people I believe in the study I have to look at my notes

[57:14] that actually had thermostat.

[57:18] The core I have is one that maybe Nick mentioned

[57:21] presentation to the finance and personal committee meeting with the test. I have a cooler up-to-date

[57:29] cooler that dumps water every 11 hours, operating hours, and I did my own study on that because I only

[57:38] use about on normal basis about three units a month, and that's 750 gallons per each unit. And I

[57:48] and some of the time I go from 3 to about 4, and the water I currently use when it dumps

[57:57] it goes into a makeshift irrigation system that goes out in water plants, but when I disconnect

[58:03] that and run it into a 10 gallon bucket, and it seemed like it was dumping water every

[58:10] 11, approximately 11 hours of operation, I'm thermostatic control, so it wasn't 24 hours

[58:16] day, it was less than that 15, 15 hours possibly. And I was accumulating over a 24-hour period

[58:24] just right at 10 gallons per day if I was operating it with a thermostat.

[58:32] And Nick was talking about some of the conservation programs. That could be one for future use

[58:37] about installing some thermostats. I was like to say, I've been in the homes that have the old,

[58:45] but just the only off-switch and they are freezing and yeah so you need to run it with a thermostat

[58:53] where you don't have to turn it on off and those type things. So anyway it's a great presentation

[58:57] and a good study. I appreciate all the information you gathered. Thank you. So good news

[59:03] through the outreach program that we do for you guys. I do include swamcours now in that

[59:11] and I talked to people about using it for irrigation and

[59:15] stalling thermostats and also about just disconnecting that dump and dumping

[59:21] it maybe once a month or once every couple months or as needed so this

[59:28] doesn't actually open our eyes on that we include it now in that outreach

[59:32] education that we do yeah I do I do have on the thermostat that I have was a I can

[59:38] and stop that dumping of water.

[59:40] Yeah, that's a fish.

[59:42] And when I do that once in a while,

[59:43] it depends on what's happening,

[59:45] but yeah, I think a thermocytic control

[59:48] though is probably pretty crucial in these days.

[59:50] So thanks again.

[59:53] Thank you, Director Ventura, Director Limbaugh comments.

[1:00:03] Yeah, sometimes I can't find the button on time. I like to study one, because if you all recall in 2014, when the state started making mandates on water use, they neglected to say that the high desert areas, particularly out there, the folks in Yucca and Morocco, have some of the lowest per capita water use rates in the state, maybe in the country. And when they make sweeping

[1:00:32] mandates about water uses for domestic use. And I'm going to use your word Kimberly because I

[1:00:41] love them. We should be incarcerated about evaporator coolers in the high desert because the

[1:00:49] energy savings from an evaporator cooler is a green item that is very desirable in the high desert.

[1:00:57] And as you know, since we have the Arab climate, it makes life much more comfortable in the summer

[1:01:02] here. So even though this study is a small piece, I think it it eludes to the fact

[1:01:09] that the high desert community has a special ingredients when it comes to water

[1:01:15] use. And this would be one ingredient if the state mandates water use by

[1:01:19] single-family residences and per person use that this would be a good thing to

[1:01:25] exempt because it does go to the health and wealth of the people who live in our

[1:01:29] So it's a it's a put in the right direction.

[1:01:34] Appreciate your comments, Director Limbaugh, Director Cox.

[1:01:42] Thank you, Madam President. Mike, you can borrow my words anytime you want to.

[1:01:47] And I appreciate you giving the background on that for some of our newer directors.

[1:01:55] When the last drought came around and the state board issued some very, very punitive

[1:02:06] measures against our desert water districts, a study like this would have been amazing

[1:02:14] at that time.

[1:02:15] But we learned from that.

[1:02:18] Hopefully this will help provide some education.

[1:02:21] I think the numbers are very low for the EVAP use, but it's better than what we have had in the past.

[1:02:36] I'd like to know what do we see as next, engaging in a more in a scientific study

[1:02:48] study that would be conducted by a university or just turning the data that we have now over to

[1:02:56] the state and seeing what they do. Nick, what do you envision the next step of this to be?

[1:03:04] Yeah, I think the answer to that question is both of those. We will be turning over the data

[1:03:09] to UC Davis and I have a contact at Department of Water Resources that we're working with on this

[1:03:15] and they were the initiators with the analytical study and they realized we were doing this as well,

[1:03:22] and we're very excited to kind of receive these numbers. And I think ultimately it's going to lead

[1:03:27] to a larger physical study of these water uses. I think using the analytical methods that they're

[1:03:36] utilizing just wasn't strong of water use, but I think seeing and actually experiencing the physical

[1:03:44] of this study they'll understand, but there is quite a bit of water use there.

[1:03:48] I also agree with you. It probably is low.

[1:03:52] But you can see some of those numbers in that study.

[1:03:55] They are quite high for people that are full-time residents and don't go to work.

[1:04:00] So there's definitely a need to consider this.

[1:04:03] So are we going to draft up a white paper with the outlining methodology

[1:04:11] and the findings here, or are we just going to turn over the data?

[1:04:16] No, we have a white paper that's been written.

[1:04:22] Okay, I didn't see that in the agenda packet.

[1:04:26] Is it part of our material?

[1:04:30] If it's not, I can make sure that you get a copy of it.

[1:04:33] Okay, I think the board would be interested in that.

[1:04:37] Excellent. Yes, I was definitely forward that along.

[1:04:39] Okay. Thank you. That's all I had, Madam President.

[1:04:42] Thank you, Director Cox. Director Raleigh has left the meeting, has another commitment.

[1:04:49] So I'll go back to Director Page for a motion.

[1:04:54] Yes, I'll make the motion to accept this study.

[1:04:59] I would be happy.

[1:05:00] Happy to make that second. Roll call, please. Director Limbaugh. Yes. Director Ventura.

[1:05:12] Yes. Director Page. Yes. Director Cox. Aye. President Hayhurst. Yes.

[1:05:23] Good discussion. Thank you. We will go on to item number 11, which is consider authorization of professional services to Zendero for the annual supply and demand

[1:05:34] and assessment and other related planning work.

[1:05:37] General Manager Febo.

[1:05:39] Yes, thank you.

[1:05:40] So just back on item 10 to respond to director Cox

[1:05:45] and for the rest of the board and public,

[1:05:47] the white paper is attached to the agenda

[1:05:50] as the second supporting documentation item.

[1:05:54] So it is there for review

[1:05:57] and we will, we can send that out again as well.

[1:06:00] For this item, we are, the agency is required, along with all other urban providers to develop

[1:06:10] the Urban Water Management Plan that identifies our, it projects our water supply needs and

[1:06:18] compares those with water supply availability. That plan is updated every five years and there

[1:06:26] has now been a new addition to the requirement where we do an annual update to make that comparison

[1:06:34] between our available supplies and our current annual demands to ensure that we're able to meet those demands.

[1:06:41] And along with that is to develop a contingency plan if we are not able to meet those demands.

[1:06:48] And so this item is to use the professional services

[1:06:54] as they have Gero and in addition

[1:06:58] to helping us with those two items,

[1:07:00] they'll also be providing consulting services to us

[1:07:03] for grant writing and planning services

[1:07:06] that we don't currently have in town.

[1:07:08] So we do generally try to do as much as we can

[1:07:11] with the staff that we have,

[1:07:13] but these are particular items that we just currently

[1:07:16] don't have expertise in house to perform and require the professional services of experts.

[1:07:23] So with that, I will hand it over to Nick Schneider to walk through this item.

[1:07:30] Thank you again, General Andrew Femmo. That was a fantastic presentation on what we're going

[1:07:35] to be talking about today. And I'll just fill in some of the gaps from what you said. And then also,

[1:07:42] So I have Adnan and I'm Tawi with us as well, I believe he's still online, and he, I'm

[1:07:48] going to turn it over to him to go over some of the additional planning services that

[1:07:53] we're looking at utilizing through Zengerro and Widen's is important.

[1:07:58] And so just before I get started, you may have never heard of this name before unless you

[1:08:03] were on the PRT call, Zengerro is a new name for the original company known as Tully and

[1:08:11] young Gwen Moore-Tully and Greg Young wrote our Urban Water Management Plan after considerable

[1:08:18] vetting, considerable interviews and many different times to speak with them. They were selected

[1:08:26] to write our urban water management plan. One of the important things to note is the reason they were

[1:08:32] selected was their innovative nature, their creative nature, that they're kind of thinking outside

[1:08:38] of the box when it comes to some of these planning documents, they have a unique intimate knowledge

[1:08:45] of California water. Mr. Tully is an attorney by trade and Mr. Young is a water engineer,

[1:08:54] so they have a great team and they work very well together.

[1:09:03] As stated, we are going to talk about

[1:09:05] the annual supply assessment, water shortage contingency plan requirements, some grant writing,

[1:09:10] and other planning services and then ultimately we're going to end with a recommendation from us.

[1:09:17] The annual supply assessment, this is a very important piece that came out of the last drought.

[1:09:24] If you recall the 2011 to 2015 drought was a five year period of some of the lowest water availability in California history.

[1:09:32] After this was a time, after this time period, the state of California and the legislature

[1:09:39] implemented a series of updates to the Urban Water Urban Planning Act.

[1:09:44] These updates were to develop a drop-proofing method for the various urban plans and urban

[1:09:52] providers throughout the state of California.

[1:09:55] So our urban, well, urban water management plan must be submitted.

[1:10:00] 25 years, and it has a 20 year look out into the future of water use. We take ours a little bit further, and this is one of the things that was very innovative about our use of Mr. Tully, Mr. Young. They looked at everything, they looked at all the different pieces, and we actually took this a step further, and we looked out 25, 35, 40, even 45 years into the future to ensure that we were being able to supply a sustainable water source to the citizens.

[1:10:30] that live here in our region.

[1:10:32] But what the state is now asking us to do

[1:10:35] as part of these adjustments to the Urban Planning Act

[1:10:38] is, so you've done your urban plan,

[1:10:41] you've put these numbers together,

[1:10:43] let's verify those numbers.

[1:10:44] So we now have to go every year and look back

[1:10:47] at all of our different supply pieces

[1:10:49] that we assemble within our urban plan.

[1:10:53] So we have natural supply, we have important supply,

[1:10:57] we have recharge supply,

[1:10:58] which I excuse me reclaim supply and then we have an additional imported

[1:11:03] reclaim supply. So we have to then go back and look at all four of those pieces

[1:11:07] to see what actually happened. Did our numbers match up to what we assumed it

[1:11:13] would match up? Then the state will take the actually we will take those numbers and

[1:11:18] look at how much demand we had versus those numbers. If at any point during the

[1:11:24] next five years we see our demand outpacing our supply we must implement our

[1:11:31] water shortage contingency plan and the state will tell us how much of and how

[1:11:36] far we need to go with that implementation so there's there's six stages of

[1:11:42] our water shortage contingency plan and they will tell us well actually the water

[1:11:47] supply assessment will tell us which stage to go to so for example if we're 10

[1:11:52] 10% over on our demand numbers, we must go to the stage that says that we are 10% over and then we will have to have voluntary and even mandatory water savings throughout the region to ensure that we are able to meet the demands.

[1:12:08] Since our urban plan is a regional style urban plan, we work very closely with our water retail providers.

[1:12:17] We have to have a good relationship between all those different people and all those different groups so that we all can have the same numbers and they can add up together.

[1:12:27] And so that's where the next piece comes into play, the water shortage contingency plan.

[1:12:32] And so our water shortage contingency plan is a relational plan where we will work with those retail partners.

[1:12:39] and Mr. Zengero will help us to continue those relationships, continue to develop and implement this water shortage contingency plan with those retail partners.

[1:12:52] And one thing I'd like to note here is Zengero, or at the time tell you young, were involved with several of the other retail partners either on an intimate level where they completed the urban plan.

[1:13:05] or they met with all of the other urban suppliers directly

[1:13:09] to ensure that all of our numbers

[1:13:11] were going to work together.

[1:13:13] So there is already a relationship between Zingero,

[1:13:17] our retail partners in the MWA.

[1:13:19] So this is an extension of that original planning document

[1:13:22] and the original relationship that we developed last year

[1:13:26] to develop this work.

[1:13:29] And then moving forward, we have several grants

[1:13:33] that we are looking to execute here in the next few months, the IRWM

[1:13:40] or integrated regional water management plan is our regional relationship

[1:13:47] with all of the different individual partners throughout our service area.

[1:13:51] We had applied for a prop 1 grant in round 1 and those are now being executed

[1:13:58] and they're being, uh, those products are being built, some are being completed,

[1:14:02] well, that the state has now implemented round two, which will be due in March,

[1:14:07] and we are going to utilize the Zingero Company to develop the grant

[1:14:12] application process moving forward. So to break this into numbers in the

[1:14:19] Lahonton region, we have approximately $1.2 million available

[1:14:23] for these grant services, and Zingero has up

[1:14:29] to two projects

[1:14:31] for this this work and then in the Colorado region you may have recalled we had just developed a

[1:14:37] split of the funding for all of the remaining dollars in this pot and our portion came out to be

[1:14:45] $2.5 million and of this Zangero will write up to five projects for the $75,000 that they are

[1:14:54] putting together for this proposal. The one piece that is important.

[1:15:00] Part of this proposal is some of that money, and I would say a good portion of that money will be reimbursed to the agency and will be coming back to us by whichever proponent will be applying for these grant dollars. So, for example, if we utilize the city of Victor, and I'm picking on them because they had a project in round one, they will pick up all of the costs for any applications.

[1:15:29] and then ultimately any of the grant writing services.

[1:15:32] So we will delineate whatever is the total cost of the grant

[1:15:36] and it is a weighted average by how much money they decide to pursue

[1:15:41] in these grant applications, and they will pay that weighted average

[1:15:44] of their portion of this grant writing service.

[1:15:52] And then at this point, I'd like to introduce this.

[1:15:56] And then if Adnan is on, turn it over to him for one minute

[1:16:00] so that he can go over this as well.

[1:16:01] Well, we are starting to work on implementing and updating our IRWM or our integrated regional

[1:16:08] water management plan.

[1:16:09] Again, this is something that we have in our strategic plan to be completed by the year

[1:16:14] 2024.

[1:16:16] I know that sounds like it's a long time away, but unfortunately this is such a large document

[1:16:20] and there's so many moving pieces.

[1:16:22] There are pieces that we would like to start to work on now starting to develop against some

[1:16:27] of the relationships and starting to develop some of the projects and understanding some

[1:16:32] of the pieces where we had from 2014 moving into today.

[1:16:36] So that was 10 years ago when we did the last major piece of this.

[1:16:41] We have had updates along the way, but this will be another major update to this plan.

[1:16:47] And due to Zingeros' intimate knowledge and relations that they've already started to develop,

[1:16:53] up, we feel that they're a perfect, consulted team to help us

[1:16:58] get further those relationships and continue to develop more of those

[1:17:02] relationships. So I don't see, as Addnan online.

[1:17:06] I'm here next. Thanks. I'll just speak up to the

[1:17:09] couple of the points here. So as Nick mentioned,

[1:17:12] staff was very happy with the work that Kelly and Young had done

[1:17:18] for the Urban Water Management Planning process.

[1:17:21] We do prepare a lot of plans, we have a lot of planning efforts, and part of the value

[1:17:27] is making sure that they all have the same themes and show the same messages and that

[1:17:33] are consistent with each other.

[1:17:35] And to that effect, I think that there could be a lot of value here in San Gero support on

[1:17:43] related planning efforts.

[1:17:44] So, again, we have a strategic initiative to leave a new update to Irwin by 2024, and

[1:17:53] so this would sort of lay the foundation for that work, as well as any of some other

[1:17:59] planning work that Zengero is offering, which will include things like reviewing some of

[1:18:05] the Trans-Rand Exchange planning and analysis, ensuring consistency with our current planning

[1:18:10] documents in what we're pursuing, stakeholders or facilitation related to planning work

[1:18:17] and various other small minor things that come up that are related to the work that they're

[1:18:24] doing under the annual assessment, rent writing and the like. So this and I think Nick is going to

[1:18:32] take back over and talk about the cost for each task, but it's all up to. All of this is going to be

[1:18:39] initiated by task order and so no money will be spent without written authorization

[1:18:45] under especially this on-call portion that they have proposed. So with that, Nick, I can

[1:18:51] hand it back to you. Yes, thank you. And just to build off of what was just said by Adnan,

[1:18:59] this very important note in this portion here is this is up to and not to exceed a portion

[1:19:05] of this planning work and at this point I don't anticipate fully spending this before

[1:19:12] the end of the fiscal year and we would like to then come back to the board in the beginning

[1:19:16] of the next fiscal year to continue this process and we will come back with additional documentation

[1:19:22] and additional pieces that we will show the board and what's been happening and what the

[1:19:27] Gerald has been able to offer with us. I'd like to jump in as well just to highlight that the entire

[1:19:34] Another integrated regional water management planning process is a large endeavor that can

[1:19:41] be quite costly and so we will be coming back to the board with that as a separate action

[1:19:47] item.

[1:19:48] Most likely we will be doing an RFP process for the integrated regional water management plan.

[1:19:53] And this is really part of the on-call consulting work that like,

[1:20:00] Addnan has said would help lay the foundation for getting to that in a great regional water management planning process, but this is by no means undergoing that effort under this budget. Yes, very good. That's perfectly stated. Thank you.

[1:20:23] Over the different pieces. The water shortage contingency planning implementation is the annual supply assessment work will be approximately $35,000. The grant writing services for the

[1:20:36] the entire WM grant will be $75,000.

[1:20:39] And again, to note there is where the reimbursement will take place and then the other planning work will be the $65,000 number.

[1:20:47] And so the total cost of this contract will be not to exceed $185,000.

[1:20:55] Staff recommends the firms in Jero to perform this work.

[1:20:59] The reason being is that we have already had work with the Jero.

[1:21:02] They work with our regional partners. They work with our retailers.

[1:21:05] They have a deep knowledge of the MWA Act, the Judgment, and MWA's total water use efforts throughout the state.

[1:21:14] So, there's a Gerro, as I stated before, was formerly Tully and Young.

[1:21:19] One thing I didn't know earlier was Mr. Tully actually worked on our adjudication and had wrote some briefs for our adjudication.

[1:21:27] So, he's intimately aware of how that operates as well.

[1:21:31] They have done the work with our urban plan.

[1:21:34] So this is an extension of work that they've already done.

[1:21:37] And it's important for that knowledge base that they have

[1:21:40] with the water systems, with the water use that we utilize here

[1:21:43] to continue to utilize and work with them.

[1:21:47] And then something that we know and understand

[1:21:50] could be a concern is we have looked at the hourly rates

[1:21:54] as a Jero and compared them to other consultant agencies

[1:21:57] throughout the state and they have very competitive hourly rates and this being a professional services agreement is something where we feel we would really like to have developed and and that intimate nature that they've developed with the staff with the retail partners and with the region and allowing them to continue to work with us on these important.

[1:22:19] So,

[1:22:24] as I stated, I will be requesting as staff requests the Mojave Water Agency Board of Directors

[1:22:30] considering entering into a contract for consulting services with the Zingerro Incorporated

[1:22:34] to conduct an annual supply assessment, the implementation of the Water shortage contingency

[1:22:39] plan, grant writing services, and on call consulting services.

[1:22:44] At this point, I'd be happy to open this up for quite a myself or Adnan.

[1:22:50] Nick, thank you for the presentation and add-on as well.

[1:22:53] This did go before the PRE and O committee,

[1:22:56] and so I'll start with Director Page

[1:22:58] and then come back to him for a motion.

[1:23:03] Thank you, President Hayhurst.

[1:23:05] Boy, it's a problem when you get your notes mixed up.

[1:23:09] This is the item that not only came before the committee,

[1:23:13] but was the one that the committee not only sent before the board,

[1:23:16] but really did want the feedback

[1:23:19] back from the other the board members just because nature of it we seem fairly

[1:23:26] comfortable with it that we certainly didn't want to hear from the other board

[1:23:29] members. That's why it's disappointing that two of them are have had to leave so

[1:23:34] early but we are asking for for comments and fully expecting that this will be

[1:23:43] pass. So that's my comments from the committee meeting. Thank you. Thank you

[1:23:49] Director Page Director Limbaugh.

[1:23:54] How do you know when I always have a lot of

[1:23:57] things to talk about? Anyway I did listen to the committee meeting and I I have

[1:24:10] have a couple direct things under task one and two. I believe that those are very specific

[1:24:19] and have end periods. Task one is at the end of February and task two is at the beginning

[1:24:26] of July. So I would hope that we would be notified when those things are completed and

[1:24:32] I think both of them are going to come before the board anyway and that it's duly noted

[1:24:37] that they were approved now and completed by Zendales.

[1:24:43] The other thing is, when you talk under the on-call services, there's one item

[1:24:52] that,

[1:24:54] and also there, I don't know these people, I've never seen their resumes that I remember.

[1:25:00] So I don't know who they are. The names don't ring of hell with me. But when I see that they're going to be doing consulting work with regards to groundwater modeling. I don't know who the hydrologist is or the geologist or the person that's involved with that or what they've done prior to doing consulting on groundwater monitoring in our area. And I think that's a key element of experience.

[1:25:29] not only with the Mojave or other basins in our area but what they've done statewide with

[1:25:35] the guards to ground water modeling because I believe we have pretty qualified people on staff.

[1:25:44] And I think Allison has a director of people has a fair amount of knowledge about ground water modeling.

[1:25:51] So I want to know what specifically we're going to subset our knowledge in house with consultants.

[1:25:58] Also, Kennedy-Jakes under their Water Marketing and Groundwater Banking Program is going to be doing significant ground water modeling. I would imagine under their evaluations over the next couple of years.

[1:26:13] And I'm not quite sure are they going to work together or separately or just exactly what that's going to take place.

[1:26:21] I also think that there's an extreme advantage to have a staff know of this work and if not do the work

[1:26:31] It helps at all. I know Tony does a lot of work. I know add on can do engineering work, and I guess

[1:26:39] To draw the line between what our staff is going to be doing and

[1:26:44] What we're going to have a consultant to do to put it in generalities that they're going to look at they're going to investigate

[1:26:49] I, for me, it's not specific enough to award the work on without detailed items because

[1:26:58] a lot of the stuff that we're going to be doing is regurgitation of information and

[1:27:02] updating the integrated legal water management plan.

[1:27:04] I would hope that staff would be having the biggest footprint on that particular document

[1:27:12] rather than the consultant because we have such a highly qualified staff.

[1:27:18] Those were the main comments that I have, and I think we should change ourselves with

[1:27:26] the people that we have working at MWA, that they're very talented and very qualified.

[1:27:33] And when we go out to the community, it's nice to have on-staff expertise rather than

[1:27:39] bringing the consultant on it, it's kind of like talking to a lawyer, you know, you can

[1:27:44] get a legal opinion about anything. It's pretty much can get an engineering opinion and hydrological

[1:27:48] opinion about anything, but it's great when we have staff is the ones doing it. So I think with

[1:27:55] items three and four, to me, they're a little bit nebulous. I don't have a problem with moving forward

[1:28:02] or identifying funding for these things if they're needed, but I think as from my perspective,

[1:28:09] I would like to see some more specifics as this work gets accomplished and done

[1:28:14] and how it integrates with all the other things that we're doing with consultants

[1:28:17] with regards to ground water management and also the state water project,

[1:28:23] water preparedness, whatever you want to call it.

[1:28:26] So those are my comments.

[1:28:29] Thanks.

[1:28:30] Thank you, Mike.

[1:28:31] General Manager Febo, I'd like you to address his comments, please.

[1:28:35] Yes, absolutely.

[1:28:36] I will hand it over to Adnan to address the specifics on the groundwater modeling work that I will say that I share the philosophy that we want to keep as much of the expertise in house as possible that we are the experts on our basin right now we just happen to have a couple of vacancies that are requiring that we don't have that expertise in house one is the grant writing expertise.

[1:29:06] We have a vacancy, it has not been filled at the time.

[1:29:10] And additionally, we have found in the past that when we've had people who are not particularly experts on writing those grants, we don't get the grants.

[1:29:19] But when we have the experts actually help us write those grants, we are much more successful in receiving that grant funding.

[1:29:25] So I think for the grant writing until we actually have an expert, it makes a lot of sense and it's a good payoff to have that help come in from outside.

[1:29:37] Regarding the other on-call work, I can speak to the state water project side where Greg Young actually works very closely with other state water contractors throughout the state, even north of the Delta.

[1:29:51] and so he can provide quite a bit of ex-understandings and understanding other aspects of ideas around him.

[1:30:00] Water transfers, water purchases, water sales, and those types of things. And Adnan already mentioned that there's expertise as well from Tully who has had background in our own groundwater basin and adjudication. Again, Adnan is a shop of right now. One due to some leave and it will be a shop of just two or three. We have to make it be fair that we do see growing into having our own planning.

[1:30:29] expertise on site in our in-house, but at this time we just don't have the

[1:30:36] planning there. We are looking at filling that they can see it soon.

[1:30:42] Just to

[1:30:42] address that we agree we want to have that in-house as soon as possible and

[1:30:47] this is to kind of fill in the gaps until we can do that. I'll hand it over to

[1:30:51] Adnan to address the specifics on what ground water modeling helps with the

[1:30:56] expected. Thank you, General Manager Febo. That was a really good summary of our thought process

[1:31:02] here. I will say that staff doesn't anticipate using Vengerro for groundwater modeling at this point.

[1:31:10] What was listed under that on call is sort of spread over their current capabilities as a firm.

[1:31:20] as an example of things that they can provide support with.

[1:31:25] What staff is expecting to use them, at least on the on-call portion part,

[1:31:30] is really to work that they have performed for the agency in the past

[1:31:35] in their capacity during the urban water management plan.

[1:31:39] And any related work that may kind of cross over into that realm.

[1:31:47] So again, not much is anticipated under the on call at this point and that's why we it's left as an on call it's for things that come up.

[1:31:57] But as Allison mentioned, their particular experience working with state water contractors, their experience with our area in preparation, the urban water management plan makes them kind of good pair of second eyes, even if we are doing the brunt of that work, which I agree.

[1:32:13] The staff wants to be the main proponents of these planning efforts and we do retain that knowledge, but having a second set of eyes to review materials or make sure that thing is going around in the state that may have implications on some of our planning work or paid attention to.

[1:32:33] That's where I can see the support.

[1:32:35] and Jero for planning work under the on call.

[1:32:41] Hopefully that addresses the question.

[1:32:44] Director Limbaugh.

[1:32:45] Hi, Mike.

[1:32:46] Yes.

[1:32:47] Yeah, that sounds good.

[1:32:51] And I'm glad you guys feel that way

[1:32:54] because that's you are experts in your field

[1:32:57] and it's nice to hear your opinions

[1:33:00] and I do value the consultation from consultants as you do

[1:33:04] And from time to time, that is necessary to use outside sources.

[1:33:09] And hopefully in the next few years, we'll get the staff to bolster our workload.

[1:33:18] That concludes your comments, Mike.

[1:33:22] Yes, ma'am.

[1:33:23] Thank you very much for that. Go to Director Cox, please.

[1:33:30] Thank you, Madam President. I agree with so much of what Director Limbaugh said.

[1:33:37] we don't want to be a stable of managers that just manages consultants, consultants come and go

[1:33:44] and merge and retire. And with them we lose that expertise and institutional knowledge that

[1:33:51] we've paid them to gain. It is far more important for the longevity of the agency that we develop

[1:33:58] that knowledge and that skill of our basins from within I agree it's appropriate to use consultants judiciously but I think we really need to focus moving into the future of having that expertise within our core group at the end of the day though there will be greater value to the constituents and the residents of our area that we all serve.

[1:34:29] That's all I have. Thank you.

[1:34:32] Thank you. Director Ventura.

[1:34:36] Well, there's not much left for me to say.

[1:34:38] Mike Lindbergh, you know, if you have an engineering self at NASA,

[1:34:42] really specific with questions.

[1:34:45] And I'm quite satisfied with staff's response in the oversight.

[1:34:50] I agree with Director Cox in regards to someday a resource

[1:34:56] so it will be at the level, but we can do more things and...

[1:35:01] We're trying to do as much as possible at this point in time, but I think this is a good way to go. I think Andrea has been here before and done a great job. So I support it. Thank you. Thank you, Director Ventura, and just kind of to recap what I'm hearing from the other directors and from staff. Everybody has the same concern that we bring this expertise in-house, but staff is asking now they don't have the resources.

[1:35:31] and the depth to do this, but we understand, you know, we're not trying to make cripples

[1:35:37] and make this be a crutch, but this is a step into toward our own independence with

[1:35:42] this knowledge. So, excellent discussion. I will go back to Director Page for a motion.

[1:35:51] Thank you, President Hayer. How many commotion?

[1:35:57] I'll second that motion.

[1:35:59] Thank you. I have a first and a second roll call, please.

[1:36:02] Director Limbaugh.

[1:36:04] Yes. Director Ventura.

[1:36:09] Yes. Director Page.

[1:36:16] Director Cox. Hi. President Heherst. Yes.

[1:36:21] Did we hear Director Page? I didn't hear his response. I thought his microphone go on

[1:36:25] and off. Oh. I think it's kind of quick. Yeah. I thought I'd say yes. Yeah. I just wanted

[1:36:32] to clarify. I couldn't hear from my physician. So the motion passes unanimously. Again, thank

[1:36:37] Thank you to all for a very good discussion.

[1:36:41] We will move on to reports and any manager's reports.

[1:36:45] I

[1:36:48] have a couple of reports.

[1:36:51] Actually, they're all good news today.

[1:36:54] So, the first report is that the State Water Project allocation was recently increased

[1:37:00] to 15 percent due to a nice wet winter fall period, so October through December has quite

[1:37:08] bit of rain especially in the northern seara for the state water project and we're seeing 15 percent

[1:37:14] the latest studies that we've seen from the Department of Water Resources is that there's

[1:37:18] potential for an even higher allocation which is just great news especially given how dry

[1:37:23] January has been we've had little to no rain in January but that's great news for us it also

[1:37:30] means the watershed is probably pretty wet so that when we do see rain we'll see that run off.

[1:37:35] Second, as some of you may remember, the Monterey litigation, after 27 years litigation

[1:37:43] over the Monterey amendments, which were amendments to the State Water Project contracts

[1:37:47] between the State Water Contractors and DWR, that litigation has concluded as a quick background.

[1:37:55] The litigation was contesting DWR's implementation of the Monterey agreement, which included several

[1:38:05] items including our ability to store water in families reservoirs can't carry over storage,

[1:38:11] but the hot, the biggest hot button issue was the operation of the curtain water bank.

[1:38:16] The challenge was against the environmental document and the thought was that

[1:38:20] those the implementation of the amendment shouldn't have occurred until the environmental document was

[1:38:27] reviewed and renewed and completed 27 years of going back and forth and finally the court

[1:38:34] of appeals did a poll that DWR was in the right to implement that

[1:38:41] monitoring amendment while the environmental document was being updated, and just recently

[1:38:47] the California Supreme Court decided against hearing the case, so that is the final decision.

[1:38:53] So 27 years and we're finally in the clear for our monitoring amendments, and then the final

[1:39:00] item is that I wanted to have you all join me in congratulating Emmett Campbell, our staff member

[1:39:07] and his wife Sabrina. They just welcomed their baby Morgan Lilly Campbell on January 21st

[1:39:15] and were very excited for them and their family. So that is all of my report.

[1:39:22] Thank you very much. We'll move on legal report, Mr. Brunick.

[1:39:28] On to Director's reports, just quickly Director Cox anything?

[1:39:35] Thank

[1:39:38] you.

[1:39:39] Director Limbaugh.

[1:39:42] 15% looking good.

[1:39:44] Director Ventura.

[1:39:49] The only report I have is I guess the sewer system and the other value of high desert completed.

[1:39:56] I was really motivated construction.

[1:39:58] in the air, done.

[1:40:00] Right now, three commercial entities starting to break ground. So they were waiting in the wings for the sewer system to go in. So, hey, that's only a record. And director page.

[1:40:13] Nothing at this time. Thank you. And I have nothing. Any board members with a future item.

[1:40:25] I understand we will be going into closed session. Mr. Burnett,

[1:40:32] no real property. All right. Thank you. Directors, you have call in instructions.

[1:40:40] and I will join you in closed session.

[1:40:42] Thank you, public.

[1:40:43] We'll return to enable audio controls.

[1:40:47] Please enter your audio pen, followed.

[1:40:50] All right, we're live, gentlemen.

[1:40:53] We're live.

[1:40:56] Okay.

[1:40:57] All right, we have returned from a closed session.

[1:40:59] I'll go to the attorney for any reportable action.

[1:41:03] For my son, Bill.

[1:41:07] Board met in closed session on item 16,

[1:41:10] Barsovia, Atlanta, and there's no reportable action.

[1:41:14] All right. With that, I will adjourn. Thank you, everyone. Have a great day.

[1:41:19] Thank you.

City of Barstow, CA Meeting - 2022-01-27

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